Hi All,
Congratulations to all the Project GREEN volunteers who have spent 26 weeks caring for the 2025 Project GREEN Gardens! There’s no doubt the Gardens are a special place to hike/bike, and rest a spell on a park bench while watching the meandering Iowa River pass-by. Volunteers did not miss a week beginning Monday, May 5 through Monday, October 27. A few weeks we moved our Monday, two hours (or more!) sessions to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday but we always worked at LEAST one day/week for the past 26 weeks. Go ahead and check off our goal #1 for 6 months of gardening fun, filled with gardening friendships and gardening accomplishments. We will get to goal #2 soon.
Our last work session together was a cool one with a beginning temperature of 45 degrees and as we left, the temperature had risen to a whopping 53 degrees. Since week 25, the PGG received 0.02 inches of rain, considered “pitiful.” Our humidity was 72% with air quality of 51 meaning “moderate.” Now what does “moderate” mean for our air quality? First of all the scoring for moderate is from 51 – 100. It’s comforting to know where “good” ends (50) and moderate begins, isn’t it? The air quality people consider moderate as acceptable, but to watch closely for respiratory symptoms. Ok, class dismissed!
There were 19 volunteers in attendance for week 26. They were: Diane Allen (3 1/2 hours), Paula Sanan, Pat Yeggy, Sue Mullins (3 1/2 hours), Barb Schintler, Monica Hoherz, Kara Frankman, Rina Sjolund, Mary Laughlin, Lisa Haverkamp (MG), Linda Bergquist, Susan Ahrens, Erin Buscher, Evelyn Frey, Hetty Hall, Cindy Parsons, Kathryn Hall (MG), Jim Peters, and Linda Schreiber (MG). Our to-do list was long, but our merry band of gardeners were up to the tasks!
- We pulled annuals and their labels from all the flowerbeds.
- The annuals were placed on tarps for Steve Erickson and Crew (IC Parks and Rec) to collect our debris to be taken to the landfill. Thanks for folding the tarps to return to the garage and use again.
- Labels for plants and flowerbed names were placed into buckets for Pat Yeggy to organize for our 2026 gardens. Here’s a list of flowerbeds: the Triangle, Quilt, Circle, Catalpa Bed, Sue’s Welcome Garden, Evelyn’s Corner, Susan’s Northside Garage Garden, 7 Dashes, the Arch and more.
- We chose to leave the annual fountain grass for winter interest and were reminded to leave Mary’s Tree berm as is. Mary’s Tree berm is filled with daffodils and perennial dwarf (pink and blue) catmint.
- The hoses were drained and put away in the Ashton House garage for 2026.
- Sidewalks, driveway, and parking lot were cleared along with the patio and pergola.
- The garage was tidied up and looks great. Plans have be put into place to tighten up the garage and install a heater which will keep the garage temperature in the 40 degrees. Fern needs these conditions and hopefully next year we can over-winter our rhizomes and bulbs at the AH!
- The Little Free Library was filled and will be cared for over the winter by Roger Swartz and Mary Laughlin. Books are welcome donations anytime! Give me a call to make plans to donate any books, children’s or adult’s.
Our to-do list looked daunting, but not for Project GREEN + Master Gardener volunteers! There were checks for each to-do item by 10:15 a.m. and it was time for the s’mores party to begin. \
The REAP Grant awarded in 2023 to Project GREEN included a fire-pit that is now finished and available to visitors and local residents. It is located in the northern portion of the Gardens. Follow the hiking/biking trail until you see a bike repair station. Turn north on the new path and follow to the fire-pit area.
Here are the numbers after 26 weeks at the Project GREEN Gardens: Weeks 1 – 25 + Week 26 = 1024 1/2 hours + 35 hours
= 1059 1/2 hours for the Project GREEN Gardens from our Project GREEN volunteers. Congratulations to all!
It’s also been a wonderful addition to have master gardeners join our weekly work sessions. Their added efforts are greatly appreciated and welcome any time! The hours collected at the Gardens for master gardeners are donated to the master gardener program of Johnson County. Also, Cindy and I have discussed the 3 hours spent writing the weekly summaries of our work completed and decided it should be included along with our 26 week count.
Therefore, 26 weeks X 3 hours each week = 78 hours. Now the 2025 total is:
1059 1/2 hours + 78 hours = 1137 1/2 hours for our 2025 Project GREEN Gardens!
Whoopee! It’s time to check off our goal #2, collecting over 1000 hours for our Project GREEN Gardens.
ANY Gardens’ volunteers who have worked during the 2025 Season are invited to a Celebration Brunch that will be held Monday, November 3, beginning at 9:00 a.m. We have a healthy and plentiful menu, so please come hungry! There will be a photo show of all the 2025 pictures taken during our 26 weeks together. Cindy and I have NOT forgotten the party favors!
The Project GREEN newsletter should be in your mailbox soon. There are lots of interesting articles telling of 2025 and happenings to look forward to in 2026.
Wishing our Project GREEN family all the best and many thanks for a fantastic gardening year. Please remember the gardener’s battle cry, “There’s always next year!” and it should be a good one. Until then, happy gardening! Diane
